The way people type and use the mouse on computers may be a better indicator of stress than their heart rates, Swiss researchers said on Tuesday. They believe a model they have developed could help prevent chronic stress.
“The way we type on our keyboard and move our mouse seems to be a better indicator of our stress level than our heart rate in an office environment,” said mathematician and study author Mara Nagelin.
For the study, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) observed 90 participants in a lab performing real-life office tasks, such as scheduling appointments or recording and analysing data.
Stressed people type differently
They recorded the participants’ mouse and keyboard behaviour as well as their heart rates, and regularly asked them how stressed they felt.
While some participants were allowed to work undisturbed, half of the group were repeatedly interrupted by chat messages. They were also asked to participate in individual job interviews.
The researchers established that stressed people type and move their mouse differently from relaxed people.
“Stressed people move the mouse more often and less accurately and cover longer distances on the screen,” Nagelin said.
Relaxed people take fewer but longer pauses
The researchers also found that people who felt stressed at the office made more mistakes when typing and tended to write in spurts, with many short pauses.
Relaxed people, on the other hand, take fewer but longer pauses when writing on their computers, they found.
The link between stress and keyboard and mouse behaviour can be explained by the so-called neuromotor noise theory.
“Increasing stress levels have a negative impact on our brain’s ability to process information. It also affects our motor skills,” explained psychologist and co-author Jasmine Kerr.
The researchers said there was an urgent need to find reliable ways to detect increased stress,. They pointed out that one in three employees in Switzerland suffers from stress at work.
Test results expected by yearend
“Those affected often do not realise that their physical and mental resources are diminishing until it is too late,” they emphasized.
The researchers are currently testing their model using an app, with data recorded from Swiss employees who agreed to have their mouse and keyboard use, as well as their heart rates, recorded while working.
The results are expected by the end of the year.
“We want to help workers identify stress early, not create a monitoring tool for companies,” the study's authors stressed.
